What if we really have to go underwater for recon?

So at times like this, it’s not that he’s shirking his duty to lead the patrols, but he’s racing against time to recover his strength, which is an essential guarantee for the upcoming assessment.

"You should go in and sleep for a while; this is a long battle, and it won’t be over just after tonight."

"Hmm..." Wang Kang hesitated for a moment, then nodded calmly, "Then Brother Cheng, I’ll go rest first. If you need to switch shifts for patrol, just call me."

"Uh-huh." Cheng Ye nodded gently.

Even he was tired, not having forged a Martial Body, Wang Kang was purely relying on physical strength, clearly already using willpower to withstand the exhaustion.

Watching Wang Kang walk into Unit 3 in his battle armor, the lively chatter inside immediately quieted down, soon falling into silence.

Cheng Ye exhaled and leaned back against the wall.

Perhaps he was gradually adapting to the wilderness environment, the "danger" sensed by his Sixth Sense, though still enveloping him like a tide, no longer felt suffocating as before.

It wouldn’t take long, maybe after a few more nights in the wilderness, he’d fully adjust to this tense state.

Moreover, with the Flame as a warning, standing here was actually safer than sleeping inside the living unit.

Even if there was a sneak attack by an Infected Body, he could react immediately and fight back.

"Better to be a dog in a peaceful time than a person in a chaotic world!"

"This Inspector job isn’t easy, even a good night’s sleep is a luxury."

Cheng Ye couldn’t help but shake his head, soon closing his eyes again to nap, a faint snore emerging.

Just.

What he didn’t know was that far away, hundreds of meters away, the residents of the Red Zone were far from having the peace he imagined.

They were even less comfortable than him resting here.

...

Abandoned granary.

Since the East Zone didn’t have flat grounds like parking lots suitable for setting up living units, Luokuke thought through for a long time, not hastily ordering to find places to set up units on the first day but instead had everyone focus on clearing the surrounding ruins, completely expanding the frontiers for development.

This way, if tomorrow’s assessment task was clearing-oriented, the Red Zone would’ve sharpened the knife without being hasty, getting a perfect place to build living units and gaining an advantage in the task.

Moreover, compared with the Blue Zone, where everything looked like ruinous constructions, even supermarkets that barely sheltered from the elements were all dilapidated, while the abandoned granary was solid and safe, and the space completely sufficient.

Just the vast underground area below could accommodate five hundred people lying sideways to rest, plus the above-ground granary section, making it no problem getting through tonight.

It’s just that this consideration by the Third-stage Inspector ended up sharing the common fault of most empirical practitioners.

Arranging all the plans based on the "most idealized situation" constructed in the mind, not only failing to inherit the experience of Inspectors from the great pioneering era but not even truly putting himself in the vagrant’s shoes to consider.

The underground space looked indeed solid, able to withstand a Thorn Bird attack, and guarding the entrance could prevent sneak attacks from infection sources and Infected Bodies, but the downsides were just as evident.

The entire underground space had only one entry and exit, which had to be used both for escape and for air circulation.

Those assigned to beds near the entrance could breathe somewhat clean air yet always were on edge, bearing the risk of Infected Bodies rushing in through the entrance, constantly feeling immediate danger.

Those assigned to beds on the inside didn’t have to worry as much, but the air was terribly stale, with coughing reverberating throughout the underground space ceaselessly.

Not to mention the sinister scribbles on the inner brick walls, scratched with fingernails.

During the day, while avoiding Thorn Bird attacks, no one noticed these, but at night, the dim light casting on the underground space made those crooked scribbles particularly eerie, making one’s heart tremble.

The overall environment, though dry and not damp, consistently carried an unexplainable oppressive feeling due to the lack of windows.

Coupled with the dense crowd, someone would fart, someone would burp, and someone would occasionally get up to go to the bathroom, after a series of muddled sounds, the pungent smell would immediately cause a wave of cursing, making the atmosphere in the underground space increasingly awful.

"Inspector Luo, it seems the residents below... have quite a few complaints."

Garcia, after patrolling a circle in the underground space, couldn’t help but twitch his nose once he returned to the surface.

He didn’t know the situation in the Blue Zone now, but the current plight of the Red Zone evidently was worsening.

"Hold on, no matter what, we have to get through tonight."

Luokuke shook his head, holding a rifle in his hand, his gaze pausing on Garcia’s face for a moment, suddenly surged with a strong feeling of helplessness.

It’s a bit like seven years ago, right after being promoted from the First-Phase to the Second-Phase, eagerly wanting to keep climbing.

Yet, after finding out the harsh reality that slots above the Third-Phase were fixed, meaning someone had to go down for others to go up, the kind of helplessness toward the future, he still remembers it vividly.

After so many years, he thought he wouldn’t feel this again.

But at this moment, that familiar sense of despair embraced him once more!

"How about I take the night watch and lead the patrol, and you get some rest?" Garcia saw something was wrong in his expression, proactively suggesting.

"No, let’s guard it together." Luokuke said, quickly adding, "It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that we’re both only in the Embryo Realm, and while we can handle common Infected Bodies at the checkpoint, out here in the wilderness..."

The rest of the sentence was left unsaid, but the meaning was clear.